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TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012
ENERGY THE NATION
E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net
Ikeja PHCN targets human capital devt. By Bidemi Bakare
• From left: Dorothy Atake, General Manager, External and Government Affairs, Sinopec-Addax Petroleum; Morrison Fiddi, Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS); Morenike Adewunmi, Senior Relations and Compliance Adviser, Shell Petroleum Development Company and Yetunde Chiedu-Ajoku, Representative, Public Relations, Sinopec-Addax Petroleum, at the World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar.
The Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Chris Akamnonu, has highlighted areas where the company intends to focus on this year. He listed such areas to include human resources capacity development, marketing, metering and automation of operations. On metering, he said the company intends to re-engineer the existing metering and revenue protection methods. According to him, the re-engineering of the existing metering has become necessary in view of the huge revenue losses being generated from nonprepayment metering as against prepaid metering (PPM). He said: “It is now proven that the revenue from customers with prepaid meters exceeds that of cus• Continued on page 16
Shell plans to clean up spill on coastline By Emeka Ugwuanyi
• Shell MD Sunmonu
S
HELL Petroleum Develop ment Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) is planning to clean up the controversial oil spill found on the coastline, which its source is still uncertain. Shell in-
sists it is not from Bonga facility. A source from the company told our correspondent in confidence that Shell has concluded plans to commence the clean-up to save the environment as well as the marine flora and fauna. The source said: “The shoreline oil is not from Bonga. The oil might be from Shell facility caused by third party or oil thieves but certainly not from Bonga. However, irrespective of the source of the spill, as a responsible company, Shell will clean up the spill. The company has assessed the Forcados and Dodo areas where the oil spill was found and the clean up exercise is underway.” The sample of the oil found on the shoreline that Shell said was not from Bonga is being examined in laboratories in the United States by a joint investigating team comprising the National Oil Spill De-
tection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Department of Petroleum Resources and a few international oil companies including Shell. It was also gathered that it is being examined in the United States. Despite Shell’s statement that the oil found on the shoreline isn’t from Bonga, the Director-General of NIMASA, Mr Patric Akpobolokemi told reporters in Lagos that Bonga spill was moving fast to seashore. Akpobolokemi, who was represented at the event by the Executive Director, Maritime Safety and Shipping Development, Ishaka Shekarau said the oil spill was moving faster to the Nigerian shore requiring both international and national response efforts to deal with. Shell has since contained the spill and resumed operation at Bonga. Akpobolokemi had told reporters that the agency’s representa-
tives had carried out an overfly of the area and observed the extent of the spread of the spill and the danger posed to marine flora and fauna, assured of the agency’s commitment to ensuring that adequate measures are put in place to prevent further degradation of the marine ecosystem. Commenting on resumption of operation at Bonga, Shell Nigeria Country Chair, Mutiu Sunmonu, said: “While investigation into the cause of the leak continues, we have isolated the faulty line, which was the only one of its type in the Bonga field, and reinforced our asset integrity and safety programme. This, together with additional inspection testing and monitoring, is what gives us the confidence that it is safe to restart.” Sunmonu also said satellite and aerial imagery have confirmed that the Bonga oil leak could not have reached coastlines in the eastern Niger Delta, as some media
articles have suggested. We were disappointed to see images of a third party spill, which appeared to be from a vessel, in the middle of the area that we had previously cleaned up. Oil from the Bonga leak had largely dispersed by Sunday, December 25, 2011 due to the integrated efforts of SNEPCo, the Nigerian government and our industry partners in the application of dispersants, and natural processes of dispersal and evaporation. We are taking samples of the third party spill as part of the joint investigation in order to establish beyond doubt that this is not Bonga oil on the beach. It will be good if all parties would wait for the outcome of the investigation. “However, as any responsible corporate citizen would do, we are working closely with communities towards clean-up of the oil on some parts of the Western Niger Delta coastline, irrespective of its source,” he added.
Lagos mulls building modular refinery
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HE Lagos State Government has said plans are underway to establish a modular refinery to help boost the refining capacity of petroleum products by the state. According to the Lagos State’s Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Taofiq Tijani, the proposed modular refinery is to be facilitated with the office of the public-private partnership (PPP) and some private investors. Tijani said the state considered the creation of the refinery very necessary in preparedness for its anticipated exploration and production activities. He said: “The state is putting in place whatever would enhance the pre and post-production of oil and gas from its fields. That explains why for instance it is planning to establish a modular refinery to cater for the refining of the crude oil produced in the state. The state wants to ensure that when it eventually starts producing from its oil fields, there is a refinery that can locally refine the crude to produce different petroleum products without resorting
By Bidemi Bakare
to importation for refining.” Tijani added that as one of the coastal zones with offshore blocks currently in active exploration activities, Lagos should be entitled to oil derivation from the Federal Government, which is not forthcoming. Tijani said with the turn of events and by the time production is achieved from these blocks, he is hopeful, the current situation would have changed for the state to get what it truly deserves. He stated that with the interest shown by a couple of big players in the oil and gas industry, developing and producing from these oil fields appeared not too far from being realised. Among these players are Yinka Folawiyo, Optimum, Sunlink, BG Exploration and Nigeria Agip Energy Oil companies operating the OML 113,OPL 310,OPL 311,OPL 332 and OPL 316 blocks respectively in the Benin Basin where the state falls within. Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum is one
of the leading, active indigenous privately-owned and managed oil companies in Nigeria. In June 1998,its OPL 109 concession block was converted to OML 113 with an initial term of 20years.The OML 113 licence, located offshore in south-western Nigeria close to its border with Benin covers approximately 454,000 acres. The company is owned by the Late philanthropist and business mogul,Alhaji Chief (Dr.)Abdulwahab Iyanda Folawiyo. BG Group on the other hand commenced business development activities in Nigeria in 2004. The Group has interests in two offshore blocks, purchases LNG supply and is a shareholder in the Olokola LNG project. In 2006, the company acquired a 45 per cent participating interest in, and operatorship of, Block OPL 332 from Sahara. The company’s Managing Director is Ademola Adeyemi. The OPL 310 operated by Optimum Petroleum Development Ltd is a 310,500,000 acres oil block offshore Nigeria in the western part of
the Benin Basin, and was rewarded to the company in water depths ranging between shoreline and 1900 meters. The company’s Board of Directors include Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu as chairman and Yusuf N’jie, an engineer, as the managing director Tijani said the ministry is proposing the establishment of an agency under it for engagement with oil investors in exploration and production (E&P) within the state’s territories, adding that it is also monitoring petroleum products outlets in Lagos for health, safety, and environment and consumer protection. Tijani: “The Energy ministry as a major stakeholder of the state’s energy sector is prepared to contribute its quota to its development. Part of effort geared towards making this possible is the proposal for the establishment of an agency to engage with investors in oil exploration and production activities. We believe that such agency would help coordinate activities of the oil investors when exploration and production of oil eventually takes off. Besides, the
• Tijani
ministry is also looking at regulation and monitoring of downstream activities for the purpose of maintaining health, safety and environment (HSE) standards. “One way we are doing this is by partnering regulatory bodies like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to make sure that all petroleum products outlets are adequately monitored on conformity with HSE standards.”